[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12441-12442]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARAIS DES CYGNES MASSACRE

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, last month in Kansas, I was able to be 
present for the commemoration of an important, but little known, event 
in American history. 150 years ago, May 19, 1858, a little defile in 
Kansas near Mine Creek was the site of one of the incidents that led up 
to the Civil War; the massacre of free State settlers by proslavery 
men.
  The Marais des Cygnes Massacre is considered the last significant act 
of violence in Bleeding Kansas before the final cataclysm of civil war 
engulfed the Nation. On May 19, 1858, 30 men led by Charles Hamilton, a 
southern proslavery leader, crossed into Kansas from Missouri. Once 
there, they captured 11 free State men, none of whom was armed and none 
of whom had engaged in violence. Many of them knew Hamilton and didn't 
suspect he meant to harm them. These prisoners were led into a defile, 
where Hamilton ordered them shot and fired the first bullet himself. 
Five men were killed.
  Hamilton's gang went back to Missouri, and only one man was ever 
brought to justice. William Griffith of Bates County, MO, was arrested 
in the spring of 1863 and hanged on October 30 of that year.
  The incident horrified the Nation, and inspired John Greenleaf 
Whittier to write a poem on the murder, ``Le Marais du Cygnes,'' which 
appeared in the September 1858 Atlantic Monthly. The incident and the 
poem strengthened the resolve of the antislavery cause around the 
Nation.
  In 1941 the Kansas Legislature authorized acceptance of the massacre 
site, including Hadsall's house, as a gift to the State from the 
Pleasanton Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars. In 1961 it provided funds 
for the restoration of the building, and in 1963 the entire property 
was turned over to the Kansas State Historical Society for 
administration. A museum was established in the upper floor of the 
building in 1964. The Kansas Historical Society has done great work in 
administering the site since 1963. Just recently Riley Albert Hinds, a 
young man from Pleasanton, did some work for an Eagle Scout project 
that was very important for the restoration of this site, and 
contributed greatly to the existing historical research on Marais des 
Cygnes.
  From 1854 to 1861 Kansas was the scene of a bitter struggle to 
determine whether the territory should enter the Union as a free or a 
slave State. We paid greatly as a Nation for the ``original sin'' of 
slavery in terms of blood and treasure, and there is still much healing 
that needs to take place. Part of our greatness as a Nation is our 
ability to acknowledge both the good parts and the bad parts of our 
history, and to make amends for injustices of the past.
  Keeping alive our historical memory is a key to understanding 
ourselves as a Nation and as people. Communicating the rich history of 
our Nation to every generation is of the utmost importance. Knowing and 
learning from our history is one of the keys to

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maintaining a healthy, democratic society.

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